Automatic train-pipe coupling.



1'. v. ROBINSON. AUTOMATIC TRAIN PIPE COUPLING. APPLICAIION FIL'ED JUNE20,1910. RENEWED FEB. 7,

Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1'.

7M1 a /Kw 1. v. ROBINSON AUTOMATIC TRAIN PIPE COUPLING. APPLICATIONFILED JUNE 20, I910- RENEWED FEB. 7,1917- 1,245,772. Patented Nov. 6,1917. 4 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

awuwwtoz pNrr D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH V. 'ROBINSON, OF BRANFOBD, CONNECTICUT.

AUTOMATIC raAm-rrrnoournrive. I

Specification'of Letters Patent.

7 Application filed June 20, 1910, Serial No. 567,938. Renewed February7, 1917. Serial No. 147,258.

This invention relates to automatic trainpipe couplers of the straightport type for railway cars, and among the objects thereof are toincrease the strength, durability,

' and simplicity of construction, to insure cer tures of construction,hereinafter fully detainty; of action under all operative conditions,and to provide a structure characterized by the absence of all automaticvalves or auxiliary devices which would tend to impede the flow of airor steam under certain condltlons. v t j The lnventlon comprlses' thenovel feascribed and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pair of couplingheads in the positionthey occupy when just about to engage each other;Fig. 2 i'sa vertical longitudinal sectional view of one of the couplingheads supported by the drawbar of the car, the upper and lower nippleswhich diverge from the vertical plane being shown in centralsection;Fig.

3 is a front elevation of the coupling head; Fig.4 is a plan view of thesame, partly broken away, and Fig. 5 is a diagramto be hereinafterdescribed. 7

"Throughout the following detailed description and on the severalfigures of the drawings similar parts are referred to by like referencecharacters.

The invention comprises an improved construction in which thecoupler-head 10 is supported for universal movement, and normallymaintained in coupling position,

solely by a tapered tension spring 11 having the metal of its coilsgradually decreasing in thickness, or weight, toward the apex, andpositively secured at. its apex and base to the coupler-head and afixedsupport 12, re-

spectively. The coupler-head is provided with a series of integral pipenipples 13, 14,

and 15 diverging rearwardly in a common axial plane of said spring. Asshown in Figs. '2, 8gand 4, all three of the series of pipe nipples .13,14, and 15 lie in the same longitudinal plane'where they are connectedto the head, and they diverge from one another rearwardly in" said planewherethey Patented Nov. 1917.

emerge from the rear face of the coupler head, the forward ends of theouter nipples, adjacent the coupler head, being thus as close aspossible to that of the intermediate nipple connection. For convenienceof attachment of thehose sections the rear ends of the nipples l4 and 15diverge laterally with respect to the common plane slightly in the rearof the'said rear face, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. ;By virtue of thiscon-v struction the smallapex coil of the spring is seated closely andfirmly between the for ward ends of the 'series of nipples. V j By thisnovel construction, the couplerhead is yieldingly supported foruniversal movement from'its normal coupling position, in such manner asto present a mini mum resilient I'QSlStELIlCB'llPOIl the 1n1t1alengagement and movement of saidhead and a rapidly augmented resistanceupon continued movement of the head to its mar locked and coupledposition, thereby elimi hating the danger of distortion or failure ofthe coupler-heads by the troublesome battering action found to occur inprevious constructions -upon the initial contact of the heads, andinsuring the maintenance of a nipples are employed in combination with a"coupler-head of materially less face area than those necessitated inprevious straightport constructions for permitting efficient connectionto the train pipe and unimpeded flow through the'latter. highlyadvantageous feature of construction, Whichobviates all danger'ofperfect coupling contact being destroyedby relative rocking of theengaged couplereheads, and

minimizes the strains to which the head that position with respect'tolateral move ment, gapping, or rubbing of the faces one This constitutesa 1 upon the other. The elimination of these defects without the use ofcumbersoinemechanism, such as hooks, dogs, etc., has been impossiblewith the common formvof head, due

to the excessive distance between the, uppermost and lowermostports-unavoidably associated with the design of the heads heretoforeproposed-and to the manner ofsupporting the same.

To obtain a coupling between the heads,

without the use of cumbersome mechanism, that will remain firm andresist the lateral tendencies to disjoin or destroy it, it is necessaryto reduce the heads area-to the smallest practical extent. This can beproperly effected only by tormingthe tubularmembers so as to bring theopenings .therethrough at the points where the gaskets are inserted,nearest the heads center; by employing a spring which will permit suchdesign witl out departing from the tension necessary to effect a properjoint, and by the use of guides or gathering -means 16 which haveinterlocking sockets sufiiciently deep to inclose and hold the headsfirmly against lateral distortion similar to a close-fitting socketwrench inclosing a nut. Such sockets, however, mustnot be so great indepth as would injure the curvature of the guides if the latterbe keptwithin a practical operative dimension. For instance, guides ofpractical weight andsize with a socket 16 sufliciently deep to incloseand hold the ordinary coupler-head. firmly, which is large andcumbersome, would be impractical in form because the socketthereofwouldbe so deep as to throw the angles of the guides almost parallelwith the face. This would render them useless for bringing'the headsinto 'alinement on a curve, or when one car is higher than another. Butby reducing the'heads area=to the smallestpractical extent, the depth ofthe sockets referred to may be vgreatly lessened and their efficiencyincreased; and the guides: kept within practical-size. To illustrate, itis a well known principle that a wrench with parallel aws, say one inchdeep, will not grip a nutfour inches in diameter withnear the samefirmness that it will grip a smaller one. But reduce the nut, say to twoinches, and the same wrench will hold it rigidly without turningindependently or slipping therefrom. lence by constructing the heads ofthe smallest practical area the depth of the interlocking features andthe size of the guides I have described can-be kept within a practicaldimension, and-I therebyeetfect perfect gathering means andsocket'features, that will eliminate any liability of one head tiltingupon the other, tending to cause the ports to gap or leak. The effectiveinterlocking :depth of the head may be produced by a rearwardlyextending flange 10, which also increases the strength of the head inproportion to the weight of material. Further, by bringing the ports as.near thecenter of the head as possible, and thereby reducingthe latterssizeythe effect ofga-pping or lateral movement thereon is greatlyreduced, due. to the fact that the shorter the radius or the nearerthecenter of the heads the ports are brought the less i-movement -w:illoccur between cooperating ports with the same angular displacementbetween the vas by dogs 18.

faces. The purpose of the diagram, Fig. 5, is to illustrate the greatertendency for heads of large diameters to become sepa rated and causesleakage than heads having smaller diameters. Considering @606 torepresent a socket and abclf to represent a head seated therein, theangle Gig would indicate the possible separation of the faces 0'1": theheads due to the tilting of the inner ,head around the point a as acenter, the point 9 moving in the arc clh until itengages the wall 06.On the other hand considering abce as the socket of a head of smallerdiameter and abdf I as the head seated therein, it will plainly appearthatthe angle cz'g will be materially smaller than the correspondingangle of the first example, even though the exaggerated distance cdremains equal to that represented 0d, the point 5/ in th s instancemoving in the are 'The small ,end of the spring 11 is firmly seatedbetween the extreme connections of unore at the apex than at the base,thereby producinga more fiexible'support and eliminating thetroublesomefeature of the base coil of the ordinary cone, spring fromtaking a permanent set when used in this manner,

. due to nearly .all the stress andyiel ding function of the springbeing brought to bear upon 1 it.

The stem 13 of the coupling head is mounted slidably in.,asphericalmember 19 journaled for universal oscillation in asocket 12 ofthe aforesaid bracket, but prevented from rotation therein by :lugs ,13,thereby preventing irregulartension, ordistortion, of

the several, supporting spring coils by angular movement of thecoupler-head relative .to the axis of said, spring.

I claim: 1. In an automatic-train pipe coupler, th combination with ,asuitable support, of a coupler head, a spring. carried by saidsup- .portand having its forward coil securedito the rear of said coupler head,and nipples extendmgfrom the. rear of the head above and below thespring and diverging upwardly and downwardly respectively, said nipplesalso diverging laterally from avertical plane through the axisof thespring.

2. In an automatic train pipe coupler, the combination with a suitablesupport, of a coupler head, a spring carried by said supcombination witha support and a tapering coiled spring extending forwardly from saidsupport, of a coupler head connected to the forward or apex coil of saidspring, said coupler head having rearwardly extending nipplesimmediately above and below said apex coil, the inner walls of saidnipples abutting said coil and, in part, forming a seat for the same.

4:. In an automatic train pipe coupler, the combination with a suitablesupport, of a spiral spring connected to and extending forwardly fromsaid support, a coupler head having a central opening in its face, and anipple extending rearwardly within the spring, said coupler head havingopenings in its face above and below and close to said central openingand having nipples extend- 7 ing rearwardly from said upper and loweropenings, said nipples diverging laterally and vertically, whereby theyform suitable hose connections without interfering with the action ofthe spring.

5. In an automatic train pipe coupler, the combination with a suitablesupport, of a coupler head, a central stem or nipple extendingrearwardly from said head and flexibly carried by said support, atapering spiral spring having its base coil secured to said support andits apex coil secured to said head, and nipples above and below saidapex coil and diverging upwardly and downwardly, respectively, from saidcentral stem or nipple, the apex coil being seated in the crotchesbetween said central stem or nipple and said upper and lower nipples.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twowitnesses. J OS. V. ROBINSON,

Witnesses:

GEO. L. BEELER, G. AYREs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

